12.05.2008 Sb “ASPECT” insured the civil liability of the American telecommunication companies CBS Of corporation and WRP Of group. The responsibility of companies is insured to the period of conducting the surveys of tv program in the territory of Russia. Limit of the responsibility of insurer - 1[mln] of US dollars

peach follows up with:*And I can't exactly say how I know , but I just got confirmation that the race was definitely in Delhi as we suspected, and also was in Moscow!!

Been wondering about Matts picture of this woman in Moscow. Could she be the pitstop greeter (some kind of local celebrity) If not, then she still has good taste in cars. Pretty sure it's a Lamborghini.probably local production staff, not her car.

Great find! Here's a photo taken from a nearby ferris wheel. Because of the billboards and the buses, I'd nominate one of the fountains near the main entrance. (the way the soundmen are rushing around, it looks like Phil just barely beat the racers to the mat!)

IMHO, based on your ferris wheel pix, and the pitstop pix, my guess is that Phil is smack dab right in the middle, right in front of that big building. Talk about being conspicuous. Didn't even bother hiding him.

A reporter stumbled into the path of a hit reality show. Then, the show's fans found her

July 19, 2008 Robyn DoolittleStaff Reporter

There was something about the way the camera crews were just waiting around that told me they weren't from the local Moscow news station.

And then there was the good-looking guy in the tan leather jacket talking in front of the camera. He seemed to be speaking English – unlike the Russian-speaking cameramen. And why was there a second crew 50 metres away, near a grand archway leading into the All-Russia Exhibition Centre?

Then it hit me.

"Guys!" I giddily turned to the seven friends I was travelling with, "I think this is The Amazing Race."

Within an hour or so the leather jacket guy – host Phil Keoghan –and a man dressed up in Soviet garb stationed themselves in front of a giant Lenin statue. Before long, a pair of haggard-looking twentysomethings, weighed down by backpacks, came barrelling through the archway. They were first. Hugs all round. And we were documenting it all.

A frantic producer woman sprinted over. "No cameras! No filming!"

A second was more diplomatic. He used guilt. "From the bottom of my heart, I know I can't delete your pictures or anything, but please, keep what you've seen quiet. Millions of people look forward to this every year."

We said we weren't there for trouble, we were just fans of the show. He seemed relieved and I was content to drop it.

That is, until The Amazing Race found me.

On July 2, several months after my trip, an email arrived with the subject line: Amazing Race. I opened it.

"Hi Robyn! My name is Peach and I am with an Internet group that tracks The Amazing Race. We stumbled across your friend Vanessa's picture of the race and Phil! In Moscow and are thrilled to bits ... perhaps you could answer some questions for me?"

Whaaaa? I called Vanessa. She'd posted her Russia pics on a Picasa Web album. Were those searchable? We laughed. As a reporter, I spend most of my day stalking people on the Internet for stories, and here, I'd been e-hunted.

They called themselves The Amazing Race detectives. Since 2004, race cycle 5, the TAR detectives – about 15 in total – have mapped out, blow-by-blow, pretty much every stop of the race months before the show airs.

They search web albums and blogs for people like myself, scrutinize promo clips, track down contestants and map out possible flight patterns. Among them: a space engineer, a former travel industry professional who "can pull up flight information at the drop of a hat" and a WWII vet.

One of the forum members is married to a police detective.

"One of the nicest compliments we ever got was when the husband of one of our posters (said) he should give us some of his cold cases for us to work on during the office season," says Peach.

Peach, who works in medicine, hails from Georgia and dreams of being a site scout for the show.

As leads develop, the detectives frantically follow the trail – sometimes until dawn. Pictures. Car types. Licence plates. Local geography and architecture. It's all dissected to the most minute detail. To date, almost all of cycle 13 is mapped out.

The original TAR detective, Puddin, from Pennsylvania, who is "old enough to have teenagers," explained how she found us:

As usual, Puddin was scanning online photo albums, including Picasa. Vanessa captioned one picture "Amazing Race." It showed the back of the contestants and the Soviet soldier. Host Keoghan was hidden. Puddin couldn't find Vanessa online, but she noticed one photo captioned "Robyn and Oleg" (my boyfriend). "The (Ryerson) sweatshirts gave it away," Puddin says. "We googled Robyn, Ryerson University and bingo!" A story I'd written on buying a new condo popped up, with a picture of Oleg and me.

"I compared your photo with Vanessa's and thought for sure I had a match," Puddin says.

I was impressed, but after poking around on the site, I realized this Sherlock Holmes sleuthing was nothing. Not only had they found us, but they were able to deduce what time and day we were there, largely by puddles on the ground.

They were able to discover the location of the finale mat, or finish line, for this upcoming season.

But as true fans, they chose not to reveal the information on their website.

"We were all horrified at the thought that the racers might be besieged by the media, or that the winner might be known before the show even wrapped," says Peach. "It was more important to us at that point to protect the finale of the show than it was to be the first (fan site) to share the news ... We are all in this because we adore the race and the friends and excitement."

THE WEB POSTS

June 26 1:48 a.m.

Puddin posts photo: "This is Russia, what do you all think?"

June 26, 2:51 a.m.

Georgiapeach: "Now ... date? Time? What's with the balloons and the wind machine thingy? Those towers should be findable!"

June 26, 4:02 a.m.

Neobie posts photo: "It's the All-Russia Exhibition Centre!"

June 26, at 5:09 a.m.

Mrs. Shrek posts photo: "... Found this pic on Google Earth ... I think it matches the lights and fountain..."

June 27 at 5:58 p.m.

Chateau d If: "Think we can pin it to May 11th because the shot you just put up has drying rain puddles from rain that shows up on weather underground at 9:30 a.m. ... May 12th had no rain. May 13th had rain ... "

June 28, 12:52 p.m.

Puddin: "I'm pretty sure I've got it! The vehicles/boats ... were most likely put in place on May 13th with the Security Exhibition (ISSE) at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow on 14-18 May 2008."

June 28 at 9:30 p.m.

Peace: "From the collection there was this photo with the caption as shown: `They won the soccer game' On May 14 the St Petersburg team won the UEFA cup final. So if this is taken in Moscow ... our photographer was still in Moscow on May 14, which makes it sure that our photographer was there on the 13th."

June 29 at 10:23 a.m.

Neobie: "...we see a Kremlin clock at 3:47 p.m., while the camera clock declares 7:49 a.m. That means the camera clock was last set to ... eight hours behind Moscow Summer Time ... we can safely declare the rainy shot to be taken at 11:41 a.m., May 13th!

Yes it was the 13th. the first of three teams came in around noon-2ish. i don't really remember exactly, just that it was very early. It had rained all morning and the sun came out around noon.

Lets try to clarify "the first of three teams" , take from it what you will! Robyn and her group witnessed 3 teams and we don't know if there was a 4th team, remember nothing is 100% certain! Robyn and her group were at the Centre for hours and, to me anyway, their is room to debate about a possible 4th team which is likely if TAR is following the TAR12 format.

From Robyn~

*the team that vanessa took a pic of was obviously the first. ( who we at rff have narrowed down to be this pair )

*i can't describe the 2nd team. we saw them at a difference. ( distance)

*but as we were leaving, maybe 4 or 5 hrs after the first went through, we bumped into a 3rd as they got off the monorail.

And I've been meaning to post this, remember Robyn, our writer that witnessed Nick and Starr at the Moscow pitstop? This is why I'm pretty sure Tina and Ken final 4, theres always that chance there was a team behind them and they are final 3 but.. reading above, if it was Tina and Ken that Julz saw " very tan blond woman in a florescent green sporty outfit, backpack and one of those TAR clue cards (?) in her hand", they very well could be decoys but, nothing could be 100% certain so take it for what its worth.Remember, Robyn did not "man" the pitstop the whole time, she and her group were sight seeing.

Quote

now amazing race info for you guys:

the team that vanessa took a pic of was obviously the first. i can't describe the 2nd team. we saw them at a difference. but as we were leaving, maybe 4 or 5 hrs after the first went through, we bumped into a 3rd as they got off the monorail. she was blond and wearing spandex pink. she was yelling at the guy she was with and they fought over the right direction. she sprinted the wrong way, then they figured it out. it was pretty funny.

they also had a huge amazing race party that night at a hall at the back of the exhibition centre. it was all very secretive.

also, did you know once the contestants come through they sit at the side? i always envisioned them giong off to a hotel, but no they sat in a waiting area until at the one of the other teams came thorugh.

talk soon

robyn

Monorail....huh Interesting, as the Moscow Monorail doesn't really go anywhere, just between 2 metro stations. It has a stop at the main gate of the All-Russia Exhibition Center, though.

The Moscow Monorail Transit System (MMTS) - monorail system in Moscow (Russia), in Severo-Vostochny (Norh-Eastern) administrative district. It links metro stations Timiryazevskaya and VDNKh (length - 4.7 km). Its design was initiated in 1998 and first passengers were admitted on November 30, 2004 "in the touring mode". On January 10, 2008 monorail began to work in normal mode, which meant the reduction of ticket price from about $2 to the common price of Moscow rapid transport tickets, and much more frequent trains.

Maybe they took the metro to the Timiryazevskaya station and then the Monorail to the Exhibition Center. Or maybe not.

Belle Book,The way I see it, the most likely sequence is an elimination leg 9 (Moscow#1) followed by a non-elim (Moscow #2). The reason is that if you start Moscow 1 with 4 teams (one eliminated in Kazakhstan to get there) you will eliminate one to reach 3 teams and not be able to go below that, which requires a NEL. It is possible to do it the obverse way, leg 9 NEL and 4 teams competing in leg 10. I just think the NEL is cleaner and I don't like U-turns and Speed Bumps.

Belle Book,The way I see it, the most likely sequence is an elimination leg 9 (Moscow#1) followed by a non-elim (Moscow #2). The reason is that if you start Moscow 1 with 4 teams (one eliminated in Kazakhstan to get there) you will eliminate one to reach 3 teams and not be able to go below that, which requires a NEL. It is possible to do it the obverse way, leg 9 NEL and 4 teams competing in leg 10. I just think the NEL is cleaner and I don't like U-turns and Speed Bumps.

The only reason I disagree with a NEL in Moscow #2, is because that would mean that the NEL'd team would have to do a speed bump in the final leg. I don't think production would want that. I'm going to stick to my theory that either leg 8 or 9 is a NEL.

Belle Book,The way I see it, the most likely sequence is an elimination leg 9 (Moscow#1) followed by a non-elim (Moscow #2). The reason is that if you start Moscow 1 with 4 teams (one eliminated in Kazakhstan to get there) you will eliminate one to reach 3 teams and not be able to go below that, which requires a NEL. It is possible to do it the obverse way, leg 9 NEL and 4 teams competing in leg 10. I just think the NEL is cleaner and I don't like U-turns and Speed Bumps.

The only reason I disagree with a NEL in Moscow #2, is because that would mean that the NEL'd team would have to do a speed bump in the final leg. I don't think production would want that. I'm going to stick to my theory that either leg 8 or 9 is a NEL.

ONE TEAM MAKES AN UNPRECEDENTED MISTAKE ON THE ROAD THAT COSTS THEM DEARLY, WHILE ANOTHER TEAM STRUGGLES TO STAY THE COURSE WHILE NAVIGATING MOSCOW'S CONFUSING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM, ON "THE AMAZING RACE 13," SUNDAY, NOV. 30 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK "You're Gonna Get Me Killed" - One Team makes an unprecedented mistake that prohibits them from joining their fellow Racers at the finish line, while another Team struggles to make it through Moscow's public transportation system, on THE AMAZING RACE 13, Sunday, Nov. 30 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

You're Gonna Get Me Killed*One team makes an unprecedented mistake on the road that ultimately prohibits them from joining their fellow Racers at the finish line. *Racers hunt for Red October to find a cryptic clue. *One Racer's lack of historic knowledge stalls their race in the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments. *One team falls behind when confused by Moscow's many modes of public transportation. *One racer uses Pictionary skills to communicate with their taxi driver. BVM: • As for the challenges, Another must-see detour: A by-train-or-by-bus scavenger hunt in Moscow

:bar:*Racers hunt for Red October to find a cryptic clue. Slowhatch: The "Red October" stuff is of course fictional, but there's a sub/museum parked near Khimki to the northwest of the city. The Graveyard of Fallen Monuments is behind the Central House of Artists.

Travel by Taxi to Tushino park

Taxi!!

Chateau d if:This picture was taken between 9:49 and 10:47 am (assumes May 13th).

:bar:

Chateau:It's probably been said already but Tina is getting wet outside the entrance to Gorky Park. PanaramioBonigo: yep, they are exiting taxis across from Gorky Park gate to enter Sculpture Park. Nick steals Tina and Kens old taxi

Splash!

:bar:Roadblock *One Racer's lack of historic knowledge stalls their race in the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments.

Bulgakov’s flat and Sculpture Park. thanks to Chateau & Boingo

Chateau: This shot was taken between 12:34 and 12:45 pm (assumes May 13th). Dandrew at Victory Park thanks Boingo

Kentina

Dallas & Toni

could be part of the roadblock

:bar: Speedbump Sokolniki Park

Chateau:This shot was taken between 5:00 and 6:30 pm (assumes May 13th). Dandrew learn a new dance move

:bar:Detours BVM: • As for the challenges, Another must-see detour: A by-train-or-by-bus scavenger hunt in Moscow

:bar: Pitstop

May 13th All Russian Centre special thanks to Robyn and friends

Chateau: This shot was taken herebetween 4:14 and 4:53 pm (assumes May 11th). First team to arrive, Nick and Starr:bar:misc~

:bar: One Team makes an unprecedented mistake that prohibits them from joining their fellow Racers at the finish line

I don't know how the Russian visa-end will work because I know Russia is VERY VERY STRICT with the Visas but I am sure with production in tow and it being a race the Russian gov't may be lenient.

EDIT:Sponsorship: Under Russian law, every foreign traveler must have a Russian-based sponsor, which could be a hotel, tour company, relative, employer, university, etc. Even if a visa was obtained through a travel agency in the United States, there is always a Russian legal entity whose name is indicated on the visa and who is considered to be the legal sponsor. Russian law requires that the sponsor must apply on the traveler's behalf for replacement, extension, or changes to a Russian visa. U.S. citizens are strongly advised to ensure that they have contact information for the visa sponsor prior to arrival in Russia, as the sponsor's assistance will be essential to resolve any visa problems.

next week on the Amazing Race Phil: Dan struggles with some new moves during the speedbumpDan: thats hardKen and Tina on metroKen: were out of options here Phil:and during the race for the final 3 Dallas: we have nothingPhil: .. one team loses their passport and all their moneyStarr flagging down a cab: how are we going to get a cab?Dan: no way were going to finish the leg today, no way

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

No, you're the one who jinxes teams. All you have to do is to say that you want Dandrew to win -- and they won't. However, just to be on the safe side -- I'll say that I also don't want Dandrew to lose their money & passports.

No, you're the one who jinxes teams. All you have to do is to say that you want Dandrew to win -- and they won't. However, just to be on the safe side -- I'll say that I also don't want Dandrew to lose their money & passports.

The only teams to lose their passports and everything are Ken and Tina, who didn't have their fannypacks on at all, and Toni and Dallas, whom i heard saying - "We have nothing"!

Anyway, are there only 3 teams spotted at the pitstop? Nick and Starr, followed by Dandrew, then Ken and Tina? Cause i remembered Ken and Tina were hours behind and i think actually Toni and Dallas could maybe be in first and were not seen? Then Nick and Starr came in second, with Dandrew in third (with the speedbump) and Ken and Tina eliminated because they lost their packs?

I don't know. I really don't see how Dandrew can beat 2 other teams to the pitstop if it's Toni and Dallas who lost their packs and became 4th. T_T